The Reilly Theatre plans to romanticize audiences with a trip to Paris in its first production of the summer, “Tropical Breeze Hotel.”
Despite the way its name sounds, it is not a new reality show.
“It’s a real love story,” said Troi Bechet, who plays the lead character, Emma. “It deals with the human emotions of love and aging.”
Bechet is a Big Easy Award-nominated actress and vocalist who is best known for her role in “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill,” a re-enactment of Billy Holiday’s last live performance. The Big Easy Awards are given to New Orleans performance artists.
She has performed at such venues as the New Orleans Southern Repertory Theatre and has taken “Lady Day” on the road.
Bechet’s character, Emma, is a former exotic dancer coming to terms with her age.
“She’s looking for passionate, exotic love,” Bechet said.
After making a career out of loving any and every man, Emma falls in love with Ishmael, played by fellow Southern Repertory Theatre performer Don Guillory, a handsome, young Haitian doctor and failed revolutionary. The play focuses on their short-lived romance.
“It’s the lasting love she really wants,” Bechet said. “She waited too long and she is looking for it in all the wrong places.”
University theatre and English professor Femi Euba directs the play.
“I really enjoyed working with Femi,” Bechet said. “He allows actors to find their characters and establish them.”
Euba holds a doctorate from University of Ife in Nigeria and has acted and directed professionally in London and around the United States.
“This play will resonate with the people of Louisiana because of the mix of different cultures we have here: African, Creole, French,” Euba said in a University Press news release. “People will relate to the nostalgic ties to the past that we all feel in some way.”
The show opens night is Friday at 7:30 p.m., followed by a catered reception with the cast and crew.
The production will run until June 29 with performances Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. with a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m.
Tickets are available in the Union and Reilly Theatre box offices, all ticketmaster outlets and on the Internet at www.theatre.lsu.edu. Regular admission tickets are $12 for students, $16 for University employees and seniors and $21 to the public.
The Reilly Theatre will hold a sneak peak of “Tropical Breeze Hotel” Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets for the event are $12.